You've Waited Long Enough
by kodoku na oujo
Summary: After Hinata confessed her love to Naruto during their battle with Pein, the blonde unfortunately rejects her. When Kiba accidentally mentions Naruto to her, Hinata in sent into a depression. Can Kiba help her out of it? KibaHina and hints of NaruSasu


**So I decided since last time I did a birthday fic for Kiba I did a ShinoKiba pairing, that this time I'd do a KibaHina pairing. I love both the pairings, but, sadly, I can only do one per story D:. It's really quite sad that I can't pick a favorite. I'll just solve the way I do with all my pairing dilemmas… THREESOME!! XD HA!! I kid. :pause: Maybe :3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Because it has SO much gay subtext and not enough ACTUAL gay context. It's so frustrating really. I mean, one cannon gay couple is not enough of a release for all the building gay tension that Kishimoto-sensei puts in that story!**

**Warning: Spoilers up till chapter 451 and hints of Boy Love. Hey! It's the best I could do! I mean. I tried REALLY hard to make the last few birthday fics straight. Gaara. Sakura. Itachi. **_**Itachi**_** people! ITACHI! Let me have this! Besides it's really just a mention of it.**

**Important: Dedicated to Kiba for his birthday ((sorry it's a day late)). And just a little FYI, Kiba… My birthday's in a few days. I've got nothing to do. Maybe you could, I don't know… Come over for a special birthday surprise? Hmm? Think it over XD.**

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"Hinata…" His voice rang out amongst the heavy silence that surrounded the two of them. The sound produced from his mouth felt forced, almost as if replying back to the young girl before him was the hardest thing that he had ever and will ever do in his life time.

The pale-eyed girl took a quick intake of air, her lungs catching as she waited anxiously for the next part of that phrase that would forever change her life.

"…" A pause first, as the boy lifted his lips before his close them quickly, deciding last minute to rephrase the words that had almost slipped from his mouth. "… I'm sorry."

The air that filled her lungs felt as if it had suddenly turned from a gas to a solid and threatened to make her delicate organs burst any moment. Her chest felt heavy and her head felt dizzy; her whole body ached as it rejected the answer that it was about to hear. Years of fearing this very fate had been pushed aside during her short-lived battle with Pein, making her find the courage within herself to finally confessed to her crush her true feelings to him, only so that the very man she loved for years to destroy her last remaining hopes. It was almost too much for her heart and mind to bear. Hinata's head suddenly felt lighter than it had a moment ago and her vision began to process the world around her to be more blurry, and getting worse with every passing second.

"I'm so sorry. I'm flattered by your feelings, but… I just can't return them." The boy's blonde hair fluttered in the passing wind as a small gust suddenly blew passed the pair.

"…" The young Hyuuga heir wanted to say something, her lips moving slightly, but her vocal chords failed to produce any sound. Though after her lips moved to speak, the dark-haired girl had suddenly forgotten the words she had wanted to say.

"You see I already have someone that I like, myself." The boy continued on, his blue eyes looking so determine and yet distance at the same time, as if he had already begun to let his mind drift away from the field in which they both stood and moved on to another place within his own memories. "And I'm not ready to give up on him."

By this point in the conversation, Hinata barely recognized the man standing before her let alone the words that were pouring through his lips. Her vision had almost completely failed her and her mind was processing his words even slower and finally made it to the point where she could no longer recognize anything that had been said. The feeling soon became too much for the young girl and the last sight she saw was a panic look plastered on the young blonde's face as he rushed to her side that was slightly cut off by what looked to be blade of grass blocking her sight.

Though it may be hard to tell from Hinata's current situation, if you put her past into consideration, she handled the whole thing pretty well. Especially since it had just been Uzumaki Naruto that had just rejected her.

--

Kiba sighed as he rode away on Akamaru from the remaining members of Team Seven. He could not help but have mixed feelings about the reactions that sprouted from the loud and brash blonde member of the four man cell.

"You're such an idiot, Naruto." Kiba muttered as he raced back to meet up with the other two members on his own team. "Still so caught up on Sasuke. They all are." The brunette gritted his teeth in his anger as Akamaru picked up the pace and ran faster toward his teammates. The large white dog came to a stop, his paw scrapping across the dirt as his claws dug into the ground, when he saw Shino and Hinata standing together near one of the few remaining buildings that were left within the nearly demolished village.

"You're late." Shino pointed out in a voice that gave no indication as to how he truly felt on the matter.

"I know, I know." Kiba snapped back and he climbed off Akamaru's back and hopped down onto the ground before he began to walk over to the stoic boy and shy girl that maybe up the rest of his team. "But I had to go tell Naruto and the rest of his team the news I just heard. Considering it was about Sasuke and all. I figured they'd be pissed off if they found out everyone else knew except them."

"News about Sasuke?" Shino asked, his normally calm and even voice giving way some and letting a hint of curiosity peek through.

"Well I just heard that Danzo's approved the disposal of Sasuke as a missing-nin." Kiba blurted out, which caused Hinata to gasp and her pale hands to fly up to her mouth in her shock. There was a silence between the three of them as Shino and Hinata allowed the surprising news to settle in, but it did not last long with Shino's curiosity still in full swing.

"How did they take the news?"

"Naruto flipped out."

Immediately Kiba stopped talking and turned his attention over to Hinata, who expression had changed from scared and shocked to take on a more depressed aura about her. The brunette looked over at his more serious friend and could tell that the mysterious teen was glaring at him, even though most of his facial features were covered by his clothing or his sunglasses. The dog-lover risked a nervous glance back over the young Hyuuga heiress and wished that he had not even chanced it. Her pale eyes were hidden by her bangs and her hands were held tightly against her mouth, as if she was holding in the flood of pain and sorrow that threaten to break through if her defenses were not up and ready.

Another glare from Shino sent the brunette into a rant, which he hoped would brighten the young girl's spirits in the slightest. "Uh… Well, Sakura demanded that she go see Danzo and try to talk him out of it. Man, she looked angry."

He paused to gauge the raven-haired girl's expression and noticed that she was slowly coming out of her short-lived depression. He smiled a little, hoping that talking would help bring his other teammate back from her own sad thoughts and cheer her up a little. He glanced over at Shino and saw the heavily clothed boy give him a nod to signal that he approved of the brunette's tactics and wanted the dog-lover to continue on with his report about Team Seven.

"Luckily Kakashi has a level head and told them to keep out of it for now. Man," Kiba laughed. "They were all so wrapped up in Sasuke that I felt like they just forgot about me. I tried to talk to them again, but all of them were too caught up in what they wanted and should do to even notice that I was still there. You'd think those guys would be more aware."

"Or would at least remember that something as large as Akamaru was there." Shino chimed in, which caused the female member of their team to let out a soft giggle. Both Kiba and Shino glanced over at the shy girl, both overjoyed to see that Hinata was fine once again.

"It's no surprised that N-Naruto-kun didn't notice." Hinata spoke up in her soft, beautiful and calming voice, which caused the two boys to be both shocked and happy that the brunette's plan to cheer her up had worked well enough that Hinata would feel comfortable enough to speak once again. "He gets so absorbed into things." Her hands moved away from her small mouth and took to playing with the zipper of her over-sized purple jacket, which was not the best sign for Hinata, but was a small improvement from hiding her mouth.

Shino looked over at the raven-haired girl and then glanced over at the brunette whom stood beside him, thanking his sunglasses for blocking his line of sight so that his teammates were none the wiser as his actions and thoughts. "Well, I promised my father that I would go help him with the rebuilding. I'll see you two later." Hinata softly said goodbye to the taller boy before Shino walked past Kiba and whispered secretly to him, making sure that the female member of the team would not over hear him. "Talk to her." And with those last words Shino walked away from his teammates, leaving them in an awkward silence.

Kiba looked over at the shy girl, noticing that her happy expression was slowly disappearing from her face. As the cheery smile that he had grown to love began to fade from her young face, the brunette's heart lurched out in pain and, with a determined expression, Kiba grabbed his teammate and friend's hand and began to pull her away from her spot and away from most of the destruction and rubble around them.

"Ah! K-Kiba-kun!" Hinata squeaked in surprise as the dog-lover began to lead off to an unknown location. "W-What are you—?!"

"Just want to go for a walk." Kiba replied back quickly. "I don't know. Maybe we can go visit Kurenai."

There was a long pause between the two of them. Kiba did not dare look back at the young kunoichi, whom he was still dragging by the hand, in fear of seeing how she responded to his bold actions and then suddenly lose his determination and will to carry on if he saw something that would break his heart. He was so focused on his own thoughts and fears that he almost missed the timid ninja's whispered reply. "O-Okay." Hinata spoke softly as she gave her teammates hand a small but firm squeeze, causing the dog loving boy to falter slightly in his steps. He quickly recovered and with a small smile on his face continued to lead the raven-haired girl toward an unknown destination.

But the two of them did not get very far for Kiba suddenly felt a tug at his arm when the person following him came to an abrupt stop. The brunette turned around to ask Hinata why she had stopped so unexpectedly, but when he saw her dejected expression, he followed her line of sight and saw the focus of her miserable gaze.

Uzumaki Naruto.

The blonde boy was just talking with the rest of his team, including Sai who was Sasuke's new replacement, looking as if he was angry at something and, once again, completely absorbed in the current issue that his team was more than likely discussing. Kiba grimaced slightly before he even allowed himself to move his gaze back over to his silence teammate, and yet again he wished he had not done so.

"K-Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked cautiously. The sudden voice startled the brunette shinobi slightly, but he instantly recovered so that he could focus entirely on Hinata. He gave her pale hand a slightly squeeze, much she had previously, before he turned his head fully to face her (though the pale-eyed girl did not do the same for him) and gave her an answer.

"Yes, Hinata?"

"Can I confide in you?" her voice was soft, but the volume did nothing hide the secret tears that the Hyuuga heiress desperately wanted to shed.

"Sure. You know that you can tell me anything, Hinata." The brunette gave the young girl a warm smile, even though he knew that she would not look over at him to notice it, he felt that Hinata would be able to hear the smile in his voice or maybe (for some reason) she would activate her Byakugan and notice his expression.

"…" She paused. Never a good sign in Kiba's case, but he remained silent and proceeded to wait for her to tell him the secret that she wished to reveal. "Naruto-kun… I told him." Another pause. "I told him I l-love him."

Kiba was stunned. His smile disappeared from his face as he let the information sink into his mind, which was taking far more time that the brunette really cared to admit. He had such conflicting feelings on the subject. On the one hand he could not even begin to explain how proud he felt that his friend had finally worked up the courage to admit her feelings to the boy that she had loved for so long, and yet he felt so deeply hurt that all of her courage had apparently been wasted and amounted to nothing. "… What did he do?" Kiba asked softly, knowing good and well that he would not enjoy the answer.

"… At first I thought that he had forgotten about it completely." The young girl replied back honestly. "Since I had told him during the fight with Pein."

Hinata looked down at the group of people, her pale eyes threatening to cry at the scene that she saw before her. Naruto looked as if the Hyuuga heiress and her feelings were now the farthest thing from his mind and that hurt more than when the blonde rejected her. The brunette shinobi held his tongue as he looked over at his hurting friend, unsure of how and what he could possibly do to make things right again and to cheer her up.

"But… he didn't forget." Hinata said softly, tearing her gaze away from the blonde-haired boy for the first time since she had caught a glimpse of him and looked over at her friend and teammate with a look so full of sorrow. "He… He rejected me."

Kiba could no longer remain silent. "WHAT?!" The brunette's eyes grew wide with his shock and fury. "He rejected you?"

Hinata jumped slightly at the sheer volume that the dog loving boy used, since she was used to the both of them using soft and calm voices due to the somber atmosphere. Her sad expression turned to one of fear and her hands flew up to protect her mouth. "… K-Kiba-kun." She practically whimpered.

"I can't believe that fucking idiot!" Kiba growled out, glaring down at Team Seven so intently that Hinata felt that the very ground around the three people would instantly burst into flames. "I can't forgive him for this!"

"P-Please, Kiba-kun."

"Hinata!" Kiba turned on the shy raven-haired girl and grabbed onto her hands, pulling them away from her mouth slightly. "How can you still like him after everything that's happened?" The brunette's voice soften quite a bit, which made Hinata calm her nerves. She stared at the boy in front of her with soft eyes that still looked as if they wanted to cry until she had no liquid left to shed in her entire body.

Hinata remained silent, her pale eyes no longer looking into the brunette's.

"You should just move on. That bastard obviously has!"

"… I can't just forget about him." Hinata said softly. "I… still love him."

"BUT HE BARELY EVEN REALIZES THAT YOU'RE EVEN ALIVE!!" Kiba shouted out in his own frustration. He saw the raven-haired kunoichi flinch in fear at his raised voice and tighter grip on her wrist and instantly calmed himself down slightly, making sure that the next time he spoke he would be calmer and would not frighten his friend. "You've waited for him for years, Hinata. If he hasn't realized what a wonderful girl you are by now…" the brunette paused and waited for Hinata to glance over at him, so that the shy girl would not be able to miss the honesty in his gaze and voice. "Then he's not worth your time or attention."

"B-But—"

"You deserve someone who loves you back!" Kiba shouted, his expression changing from a serious and somber one to one that looked almost hopefully and ready to break if even the slightest thing were to not go in his favor. "Someone like me."

Pale eyes widened in shock as she stared at her teammates serious yet warm expression. The way that the dog loving boy looked just made Hinata's voice become lost somewhere within the confines of her throat and left her appear dumbfounded and mute. When she finally felt that she had the courage and strength to speak, Hinata felt a pair of lips press cautiously against her own, almost like their owner was scared that the action would destroy everything that the two of them shared between each other. She dared not move, because somehow she felt that scared emotions that Kiba felt had transferred into herself and feared that any movement at all would in fact ruin the moment, resulting in the lost of one of her greatest friends.

Her breath caught in her throat, Hinata closed her eyes in fear that she would suffocate or at least pass out from the lack of oxygen flowing into her brain. But right when the young girl felt that she could take no more of the lack of air, the lips move away from her and let her lungs take in the largest breath that she had taken in her lifetime. Hinata panted slightly, hoping that it would help regained her composure and regulate her breathing once again, before she let her gaze wonder back up to stare directly into Kiba's dark orbs, which seemed to be waiting patiently for any sort of reaction from the Hyuuga heiress.

"…" Hinata paused, too scared and shocked to say anything to the boy she viewed as only a friend for many years now. She swallowed the lump that she felt forming in her throat and tried to make her voice loud enough for Kiba to hear. "K-Kiba-kun—"

"Hinata," Kiba once again interrupted the pale-eyed girl. "If you're going to reject me, then I don't think that I could bear to hear it."

Slowly, the dog loving ninja let his grip on the raven-haired girl's wrist as both of their arms began to drop down to their sides. Before the brunette could completely release the his teammate's hands, Hinata suddenly reversed the situation and grabbed onto Kiba's hands, holding on with all her might like she was afraid that if she let up any of her grip that the boy in front of her would leave her. "Wait!" she shouted out as her tear-filled eyes stared intently at the dog lover.

"…" Kiba's eyes opened as wide as they could possibly go in his shock of hearing Hinata's voice call out to him as he tried to get away from the young girl.

"…" The shy girl paused as she realized that she had no idea what would be appropriate to say at a time like this. Her seemed to just stared at the brunette, with Kiba staring back just as anxious to hear what it is that his friend and teammate had to say to him, for hours even though Hinata knew that it could have been no longer than a few minutes. Finally, after she gave her lips a quick bite, her expression changed from sad and confused to take on a more determined look before she slowly inched her face closer to the brunette's and then, just as cautiously as Kiba had done, pressed her pink lips to her teammates.

Kiba wasted no time in returning the kiss, pressing back against Hinata with all his might that he could muster up. Just as slowly as she had moved her face toward the brunette's, Hinata moved her lips away from his, wanting to let out a small giggle as she felt Kiba try to follow her lips backward and to not break their kiss.

"Thank you." Hinata whispered to her friend as she looked up at him with a warm expression. She gave the brunette's hands another reassuring squeeze, which made the dog lover to return Hinata's expression with a lopsided, warm smile of his own.

"No problem." He laughed slightly before he leaned in once again to steal another kiss from the raven-haired kunoichi. He was happy to see that there seem to be no more resistant or hesitation left in the Hyuuga's actions. Kiba smiled into the kiss and squeezed Hinata's hand, just as she had done only a few moments ago, and hoped that this meant that Hinata would be able to, albeit slowly, get over the boy whom she had loved for so long and learn to let her heart love again.

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**I think this is a pretty awesome fic, if you don't mind me praising my own work. I say this because I somehow manage to start the story in a situation that did not include the main character. I think that's impressive for me.**


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